by R. E. Butler
Striding through the apartment, she knocked twice on Cyrus’s door and opened it. He was sitting at his desk.
“Wanna go out and get a beer? My treat.”
He swiveled in the desk chair and smiled. “Sure.”
She smiled back at him and went into her bedroom to get dressed. She ignored the vase of gorgeous pink lilies on the dresser as she pulled out a pair of socks. Guilt pricked at her for choosing to go out with her roommate instead of the male who had saved her life. Hell, she hadn’t even thanked him for what he’d done; instead, she’d been defensive.
“Why don’t you want to see him?” Cyrus asked her later when they were sitting at a dive bar known as the Crow’s Nest. She sipped at her beer and played her fingers across the marred, dark wood of the counter.
“Because it’s too weird, too fast. And I don’t like anyone making decisions for me and ordering me around.”
Cyrus turned slightly on the barstool and regarded her carefully. “You can ignore this stuff for only so long, Cin. You are already showing signs of your werewolf nature. I know it’s scary, but it would be scarier going through a shift for the first time by yourself. At your age, I’m not sure that you can even go through it on your own.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if you do eventually shift, it may be a long, difficult process. Your wolf side, if she does really exist, has lain dormant. Maybe if your father had stuck around and exposed you to his wolf pack, then you would have come into your shift earlier. You need someone to help you, baby girl. The full moon is eight days from now. I think you need to give Adam a chance.”
“You weres sure do stick together.”
* * * * *
Adam stared at the empty chair across from him. The restaurant hummed with activity, but he was like an island in the middle of it all. Cinder should have been sitting with him, letting him treat her to a gourmet dinner and giving him a chance to not act like a possessive jackass. He knew he’d gotten off on the wrong foot with her at the hospital. He’d practically shoved her relationship with the cat in her face and shown his disapproval. She was clearly loyal to her friends. He admired that quality, even as he wished he had her loyalty for himself.
Wadding up the napkin from his lap, he stood and looked at the table behind him where Brick, Solan, and Joe were sitting. Each male tried to look neutral, but Adam saw that they were embarrassed for him. Hell, he was embarrassed for himself. He’d never had a female turn down a dinner invitation. Part of him wanted to go home and forget he’d ever laid eyes on the beautiful witch, but the other part of him howled to go to her and make the situation right. He would never be happy until Cinder Knight was in his arms for good.
Solan stood slowly. “Want to go to Lycos?”
“Nah. You guys go if you want to. I’m heading home.”
After leaving enough money on the table to cover his drink, he strode through the restaurant and out into the parking lot. He unlocked the door to his BMW, sat down, and slammed the door. The scent of roses filled the interior, and he looked at the bouquet he’d left there for Cinder, planning to give it to her at the end of dinner. As he pulled out of the parking lot, he debated his next step.
Chapter 5
Cinder tried to take a nap the following afternoon, but her body was humming like a tuning fork and her mind was a jumbled mess. She could feel her wolf more strongly now, as if someone had given the creature a boost. She’d slept like hell Tuesday night, which she wanted to attribute to lingering anxiety from almost dying due to Cyrus’s venomous claws. But she knew it wasn’t that. Her wolf wanted Adam. Wanted to be in the same place as him, the same room, hell, even the same bed. Cinder had spent a good portion of the night arguing with the absurd creature about Adam, but all she’d wound up with was a headache from lack of sleep. She hadn’t been able to nap either. Before she had met Adam, she would have crawled into bed with Cyrus for a tumble in the sheets, but she couldn’t bring herself to be around him like that anymore.
When she’d finally given up and decided to get ready for work, she tried to find something in the kitchen to eat, but nothing sounded appetizing.
Someone knocked loudly on the door. She answered it and found Solan holding a large paper sack.
“Adam asked me to bring you lunch.” He eased past her and set the sack on the counter and busied himself in the kitchen. Within minutes, he’d set a table for her and left without another word.
The scent of roasted meat filled the room, and her stomach rumbled. Sitting down at the table, she looked at the plate that contained a thick steak and a pile of mashed red potatoes. A glass filled with white grape juice sat next to the plate, along with a small platter containing a wedge of cheesecake topped with strawberries.
She opened the card with her name on it.
Cinder, have a good night at work. Adam.
Even though she tried to stop it, she couldn’t help but smile. He was rewarding her, even though she had surely pissed him off by going out with Cyrus instead of meeting him at the restaurant the night before. When she finished eating the best steak dinner she’d had in years, she cleaned up and headed into work.
She really did love working at the clinic. Being a Wiccan meant she was in touch with nature in a way that humans weren’t. But more than that, being part of the clinic meant she was also helping people, even in a small way, who could be shunned and abused by the human medical establishment.
As the sun set, she busied herself filling out requisitions for supplies. Someone rapped on the counter, scaring her.
Clutching her chest and gasping, she saw Angie, Adam’s sister, looking meek and frightened again.
“S-sorry, Cinder.”
“Holy shit, girl, you need to wear a bell or something.” She willed her pulse to stop racing, inhaling slow, measured breaths.
Angie placed a narrow black box tied with a red ribbon on the counter. “Adam would like for you to meet him after work at the alpha’s house. I’m to drive you there.”
“Alpha’s house?” She pulled the ribbon from the box and opened it. Inside was a howling wolf charm hanging from a delicate necklace.
“Our pack owns a large parcel of land outside of the city. Most of the members of our pack live on the land in several large homes. The largest home is the alpha’s house, where Adam and our family lives, along with the top-ranked wolves.”
She raised a brow as she slid the lid back on the box, leaving the necklace inside. “How many wolves are in your pack?”
“One hundred and three. We have a few little ones, but most of our members are older than eighteen.”
“How old are you, Angie?”
“Eighteen plus five.”
Cinder inhaled slowly and exhaled, carefully choosing her words. “No thank you, Angie. I won’t be joining Adam at the alpha’s house, or anywhere else. Please thank him for the gift, but I can’t accept it.”
She slid the box over the counter, and Angie stared at her in shock, with a little bit of fear lighting her pretty features.
“But–” she panted, fear rising in her eyes.
“Excuse me?” Cinder folded her arms and gave her a stern look.
She closed her mouth and turned on her heels, moving quickly out the front door, leaving the gift behind. That was interesting.
As the evening waned and her shift came to an end, she walked back to Dr. Whalen’s office and rapped on the doorjamb. He glanced up from a legal pad on which he was jotting notes.
“I just wanted to let you know I’m taking off for the night.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Um, okay, I guess.”
His brow arched and he stared at her for a long moment and then folded his hands on top of the legal pad and said, “When wolf mates meet for the first time, something clicks between them. The beginning of a connection blooms. Wolves’ first instincts are to cement the mating – bond to each other. If something prevents the wolves from bonding, the connection is strained. Bi
ology steps in and tries to force the wolves to bond, driving them mad with lust. The longer the connection is denied, the worse the feelings of lust will grow, especially as the full moon draws closer. I don’t have to tell you that it’s in seven days.”
She was not going to tell him about the bad night’s sleep and her inability to do much of anything outside of thinking about Adam. She wanted to tell him to stay out of her personal life, but instead she said, “I’m not a full wolf. My father met me when I turned eighteen and said I was all witch and not worth his time. Don’t you think if I were enough wolf to shift that I would have done it before now and my own father would have recognized that part of me?”
“I don’t know anything about your father. What I do know is that right now, you smell like a full wolf to me. Being with Leo and working for me woke something inside you, and meeting Adam has opened up your true potential.” He leaned back in his chair and looked thoughtful. “My mate had a boyfriend in her pack before we met. They were all set to mate and start a family. Their families were close, and it was one of those situations where everyone just assumed they were meant to be together. It didn’t matter that they didn’t feel truly connected to each other. Then she saw me across campus one day. She followed me to my class and waited outside the door during a two-hour lecture.” He smiled fondly. “I walked out of the class, and it was like getting hit over the head with a sledgehammer. I knew she was mine and she knew I was hers. We spent the week together, and then I took her to her home pack, and we mated officially before them.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “You had sex in front of her family?”
He chuckled. “That was the way things used to be done, Cinder. The pack had to witness the first mating. Our wolves enjoy seeing a couple mate. There’s a shared pleasure that happens with the pack. It’s especially true of the alpha couple too.”
Her stomach fluttered, and the image of being with Adam in front of his pack flashed through her mind. She’d never considered herself kinky, but there was something very erotic about it.
“I didn’t know wolves were voyeurs.”
“Don’t be so flippant. The alphas share their pleasure through their connection to the pack. When the alpha pair is in love, the pack is blessed. It’s just how our kind works.”
Cinder chewed on her bottom lip for a moment and tried not to think about how sexy Adam probably looked out of his clothes, bathed in moonlight.
“I only meant to come in here and say goodnight. I should go.” She squeezed her hands together to stop them from trembling. Dr. Whalen’s words had rattled her. She could feel her resolve to stay away from the controlling alpha weakening.
“You could still go see him. I can drive you to the alpha’s house.”
“No, thanks. Good night, Dr. Whalen,” she said, turning swiftly and walking down the hallway as fast as she could without actually running. Even after she grabbed her purse and drove home, locked her front door, and tossed her keys and the gift box on the counter, she couldn’t shake the desire to see him.
The gift box taunted her.
She walked past it and headed to her bedroom. She glanced down the hallway to see that Cyrus’s door was shut, and she knew he was already asleep because of his early morning shift. Shutting her bedroom door, she leaned against it and closed her eyes. Being around Dr. Whalen had made her feel more connected to Adam. She supposed it had something to do with them being in the same pack, but since she had no clue about the wolf side of herself, she could only guess.
Throwing her clothes into the hamper, she pulled on a sleep shirt and flopped onto the bed. She tossed and turned, trying to shut down her brain so she could rest, but the alpha with his icy blue eyes taunted her. She was tempted a dozen times to pull her vibrator from her top drawer. When she finally sat up and tugged open the drawer, she found the vibrator was gone. In its place was a folded piece of blue paper. Her hands trembled as she opened it, and anger filled her.
Nothing but your mate’s cock will do, Cinder. Come to me now before you’re overwhelmed. We belong together. Adam
She squeezed her hand into a tight fist, crushing the paper. The nerve! It was one thing to be bossy, but it was an entirely different thing to take away her battery-operated boyfriend.
Seething, she threw the wad of paper in the corner and flopped back on the bed. Rubbing the heels of her hands against her closed eyes, she growled in aggravation. She knew she couldn’t wake up Cyrus, and she wasn’t sure she’d even want him touching her anyway. Without her vibrator, she’d have to settle for her fingers and there was something about that action that was grating on her. Maybe because her wolf was panting for Adam’s hands, not her own.
Well, if he thought he was going to get her to come running just because he’d had his people swipe her pretty purple vibrator, he had another thing coming.
Rolling over, she tugged the covers over herself and told the whining wolf in her head to shut up and go to sleep.
* * * * *
Adam paced at the front window, waiting for Angie’s car to return. Cinder would be with her, and he would finally have his mate in his home where she needed to be. He was alone in the front room. He’d been snarling at his pack all evening, waiting for Cinder to arrive, and they’d wisely chosen to leave him alone. He could hear them in the house, though. His parents were in the kitchen. Brick and Solan were playing a video game in the den.
The house was old and big and had been the alpha’s home for several generations. When he took over as alpha, he’d been tempted to give up the home and stay in his own place, but the pack was traditional, and it hadn’t been a hardship to move from his small two-bedroom and into the enormous house. He had the entire third floor to himself. The master suite had what his sister called an “epic bathroom” and along with an office on the floor, there were also four bedrooms. The bedroom doors were always shut. But ever since he’d seen Cinder, he’d been thinking about those rooms. Thinking about the pups who would live in them. A girl with Cinder’s beautiful green eyes. A boy with his dark hair. He’d never been one to think much about having his own family, but now he couldn’t stop.
Headlights flashed as a car turned down the long driveway. He knew it was Angie’s, and he watched intently, trying to calm his excited wolf. Angie’s car parked in the grass in front of the house and the headlights turned off. There was no movement for several minutes and wariness settled over him. The driver’s door opened, and the overhead light illuminated the interior as she climbed out. Cinder was not in the car.
He snarled loudly. Angie opened the front door, and Adam faced her. She dropped to her knees with a soft sob and said, “I’m sorry. She made me leave and said she wouldn’t–”
“Wouldn’t what?” he said, growling darkly.
“Wouldn’t accept your gift or come here.”
“Why?”
Angie sniffled and shuddered. “I don’t know, alpha, I’m sorry. I-I-I’m s-sorry.”
His lip curled and he fought the urge to throw something. “Get out.”
She scampered away, leaving him alone in the room. He turned toward the window, anger boiling through him. What was it going to take to get Cinder to see that they were mates? Surely she could feel the connection to him. She might be a witch, but that didn’t mean she would be immune to the pull of their mating connection. He’d seen the evidence of her desire for him the night she almost died. How could she keep away from him?
An image flashed in his mind of the tiger, and he slammed his fist into the wall with an aggravated growl. His hand smashed through the plaster with a loud thud.
“Brick!” He snarled his beta’s name loud enough to wake the dead.
Brick’s heavy footsteps rushed toward him. “Yes, Alpha?”
“Get me the tiger king on the phone. Now.”
Brick opened his mouth as if to protest and Adam snarled. Brick’s mouth snapped shut with a click, and he spun on his heels and raced into the kitchen. A few moments later, he heard
Brick ask if Midas was available to speak to Adam. He returned to the front room and handed his cell to Adam.
“Hello, Midas,” Adam said, reining in his rage.
“Adam. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
All the leaders of the were-groups in the area were friendly. They had their own territories and handled their own people’s issues. There was an unspoken rule among the leaders that if there were an issue among their people, they would reach out to the leaders first before any actions were taken. Adam wanted the tiger out of Cinder’s life. He was certain that the male was influencing his mate negatively. Cats and wolves didn’t necessarily get along, especially where females were concerned. He and Midas were on friendly terms, though, and he had no qualms about asking the male to step in.
Adam laid out his issues with the cat.
There was a long pause, and then Midas said, “You’re certain Cinder is your mate?”
“Yes.” Adam barely stopped from growling the word.
“Cyrus is an honorable male. He wouldn’t overstep with another male’s mate. They’re friends and roommates. I would know if there were more going on between them.”
Adam let the silence stretch.
Midas exhaled. “I’ll speak to Cyrus.”
“I don’t want you to just speak to him. I want him out of her apartment.”
“Are you certain you want to go this route? I don’t know Cinder personally, but I would wager that most women wouldn’t appreciate someone being so heavy handed.”
“Would you tolerate another male living with your mate when you weren’t around?”
“Of course not.”
“If I see that tiger around her again before we’re mated, I can’t be held responsible for my actions.”
“It’s unnecessary to threaten my pride member.”
“I’m not. I’m just speaking the truth.”
There was a brief, tense pause. “He’ll be gone tomorrow.”
“I owe you one.”
Midas chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind when I’m ready to trade in my SUV.”
